Anais Gutierrez
Sony dropped the first trailer of ‘All The Money in The World’ on Wednesday. Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in the film following the sexual harassment allegations against Spacey.
Director Ridley Scott has now broken the silence over the decision to cut out Spacey. After all, ‘All the Money in the World’ will premiere on Dec, 22.
The first look at it
The first trailer showing Christopher Plummer in ‘All the Money in the World’ was released after Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in a last-minute reshoot.
The film tells the story of real-life oil tycoon J Paul Getty, whose grandson was kidnapped in 1973. Despite his vast wealth, J Paul Getty refused to pay $17 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers.
It’s directed by Ridley Scott and, along with Plummer, the movie stars Michelle Williams as Gail Harris, Mark Wahlberg as Fletcher Chase.
And the crew and cast did almost the impossible, with only 9 days of beginning the reshoot, Sony Pictures released a brand new trailer, with lots of scenes with Christopher Plummer taking on Spacey former role.
The shooting had already finished for the film, with Spacey in the role of Getty, when the recent sexual assault allegations leveled against the actor.
Scott cut Spacey from his film, without telling the actor, and replaced him with Plummer at an estimated cost of $10 million of the already $40 million productions.
The swift reshoot, which took place across Rome and London in a handful of days in November, was completed in time for the film to meet its original December 22 release date.
A rough version is expected to be screened in New York by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, barely beating the voting deadline for Golden Globes consideration.
As for Spacey, the actor has since been accused of inappropriate behavior by 20 more people following an inquiry by The Old Vic Theatre in London where he was the artistic director for many years.
Spacey is being investigated by police in the UK over alleged sexual assaults in Lambeth, south London, in 2005 and 2008.
On replacing Spacey
In an interview to Entertainment Weekly published on Wednesday, Ridley Scott opened up about the decision to replace Kevin Spacey of the already shoot movie.
Asked when he first heard about the allegations that were being made against Spacey, Scott said:
“I was finished with the film and was in Abbey Road finalizing the music. Someone was like: ‘Guess what?’ And that’s where it began,” he started.
“I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot. You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. And it will affect the film. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple.”
Scott also said that Spacey never called him and apologize for the situation. Even if he had, Scott said that he still wouldn’t have kept his job.
“If he had called me and said, ‘Hey, look, this is the way it is and I’m really sorry,’ then I’d have handled it slightly differently. I’d have still done it. I would have said, ‘Yes, thank you for calling, but I have to move on.”
The director added he had been happy with Spacey’s performance.
“He’s a very talented man and I got on very well with him. I had no idea.”
Having decided to remove a key actor from the production, Scott had to make everything to meet the release date. And he was ready for it.
“They’re going to see it. I may have to do a couple of technical things to make it land completely technically, but it’s really already done… I’ve done it,” Scott said in the interview.
Asked for the movie studio’s reaction to his decision, Scott replied.
“They were like, ‘You’ll never do it. God be with you’,” he laughed.
Standing by the director
Following Spacey’s cut out from the film, it was revealed the cast and crew of ‘All the Money in the World’ would reshoot the scenes with Christopher Plummer taking in.
So, the cast, including the film’s leading stars Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg, and the crew all returned to reshoot the scenes that previously included Spacey.
Williams said she was glad Spacey was removed from the film. His scenes reshot as it made her “feel better”.
“I’m so very proud to be a part of this. We’re all here for Ridley. When this idea was hatched, I immediately started to feel better,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
“This doesn’t do anything to ease the suffering of people who were all too personally affected by Kevin Spacey. But it is our little act of trying to right a wrong.”
“And it sends a message to predators – you can’t get away with this anymore. Something will be done.”
Source: The Irish Times
